First Kiss Revisited
by HPDrummerman
Summary: Revisiting the PEANUTS: The Next Chapter Season 1 episode "Homecoming Redemption", we see the aftermath of the first game from It's Your First Kiss and how Heather and Marcie first got together on planning for Lucy's impending comeuppance. We also see the other PEANUTS characters react to how Charlie Brown was unfairly blamed for losing the game.
1. Chapter 1

First Kiss Revisited

**CHAPTER 1: "INSTEAD OF THE GOAT, YOU WERE THE HERO, CHARLIE BROWN!"**

The previous night had been a blur for poor Charlie Brown. He barely remembered the game from yesterday, and he didn't have any memory about the dance afterwards. But many kids did remember yesterday. Seemingly he had lost his team the football game, but managed to charm the homecoming queen, who was his crush Heather Wold, the Little Red-Haired Girl. But what all of the kids failed to realize was, Charlie Brown didn't actually cost them the game.

Lucy Van Pelt, his, you could say, frenemy, was the actual culprit. It was common knowledge that she always pulled the football away from Charlie Brown whenever he came running up to kick it. But, for some reason or other, folks could not put two and two together when it came to Lucy holding the ball during the game. And no one more so than Peppermint Patty, who blamed Charlie Brown even more than the other kids. But there was at least a couple of kids who KNEW the truth.

"Lucille held the ball for Charles, sir!" argued Marcie. "She has always pulled it away when he came running up to kick it! Everyone knows that she does that to him when it's just them at leisure. Why WOULDN'T she do it during the game, other than to make him look like a fool?!"

"She said she wouldn't pull it away, Marcie," Peppermint Patty argued back. "She gave me her word that she would cooperate."

"And you BELIEVED her?!" asked a bewildered Marcie. "This is Lucy Van Pelt we're talking about! The biggest Charlie Brown teaser around! She makes Violet Gray look like an amateur by comparison! Of course she would pull the ball away to humiliate Charles; even during an important game!"

"No one has proof that Lucille pulled it away, Marcie," Patty said. "Everyone said that Chuck lost the game. How the queen was able to look past it is beyond me. I guess she has a thing for blockheads."

"So do you, sir," muttered Marcie.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. At least review the tapes and see. If she doesn't pull it away from Charles, I'll leave it alone and admit that he truly did lose us the game. But if it shows that she DID pull it away, you need to make things right with Charles."

"IF anything turns up, Marcie, I will be the first to apologize to Chuck. Don't hold your breath, though."

Elsewhere, a mysterious figure was looking over the tapes with Woodstock. He was the cameraman, or bird, during the game. The figure played some footage of Lucy talking to Violet about a scheme she concocted against Charlie Brown*, and even footage of the game where Charlie Brown was about to kick the ball, only for Lucy to pull it away at the last second.

"Why won't anyone believe that Charlie Brown didn't lose the game, Woodstock?" asked the figure, who was revealed to be Heather Wold, the little red-haired girl and Homecoming Queen herself. "Any blind man could see the sabotage Lucy did to him. This is worse than what happened to that wrestler in Montreal." Woodstock chirped in agreement.

"Another thing is, why did Snoopy fail to do anything? Not even draw a flag on the plays, or something? Woodstock, maybe you can see why Snoopy didn't act, seeing how he's your friend. I'll edit this footage for a special tape, in case Lucy decides to pull this again in a future game." And Woodstock flew out to meet up with Snoopy. Heather continued to work on the footage.

**NEXT CHAPTER: OTHER KIDS REACTIONS**

(*) See the _PEANUTS: The Next Chapter_ episode "Homecoming Redemption" to read about Lucy's scheme


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2: THE CONSENSUS; CHARLIE BROWN WAS FRAMED!**

"You're his best friend, for crying out loud!" yelled Roy to Linus. "Your own sister was HOLDING THE BALL! YOU, of all people, should have known what she was up to!"

"You're right, Roy," said an ashamed Linus. "Why was I so blind to it?"

"In your defense, it seemed like you weren't the only one," Roy replied. "But at least some of you are now seeing what Lucy has done! Schroeder realized it even without being told. But that could be because of his nature of not being able to stand Lucy to begin with. Though, according to Marcie, Peppermint Patty is harder to convince that Charlie Brown wasn't at fault for losing the game. You can't even tell her that he wasn't the only one at fault, either. She actually believes your sister had no bad intentions on her part."

"Maybe," agreed Linus. "Well I better find Charlie Brown and apologize for saying he lost the game."

"Yeah, and so does the rest of the team," Roy said.

In another part of town, Patty (Swanson) and Frieda were talking. Violet was strangely absent and neither one of them knew where she was.

"We should have known Lucy would pull it away from Charlie Brown," said Patty. "She does this all the time to him, so why didn't we see it before?"

"And I was so mean to him, too," said a hurt Frieda. "I actually joined in with Lucy, herself, and even Peppermint Patty, who usually don't act that cruel to Charlie Brown, in admonishing him."

"Well, any other time, Charlie Brown can't do anything right," said Patty, "but in this case, he wasn't at fault at all."

"When I see him, I'm going to apologize to him for how I acted towards him at the dance," Frieda responded.

"Right now, the biggest issue is that Peppermint Patty STILL believes that he lost the game," Patty groaned. "I know she's not the smartest girl in town by any stretch of the imagination, but is she THAT naïve?!"

Back at the Brown household, Charlie Brown was watching TV when Sally walked in to tell him something. Word was getting around about Lucy messing up the game at the expense of Charlie Brown.

"Big brother," she began, "have you heard what's been going around?"

"What?" asked Charlie Brown.

"People are saying that you didn't lose the Homecoming game," Sally stated. "They're also saying that Lucy pulled the ball away from you during the game."

"Yeah, she did," said Charlie Brown, looking down. He had finally regained his memory, as far as the game went, but still had no memory of the dance afterwards.

"Why didn't you speak up about that?!" asked Sally.

"I guess I actually believed that I lost the game," said Charlie Brown. "Even with the knowledge that Lucy pulled it away, I felt it was my fault for letting it happen in the first place, knowing that she would do it. Or maybe I'm too wishy-washy for my own good."

"Even though you're right about being too wishy-washy, wrong is still wrong!" said an angry Sally. "And you need to talk to Peppermint Patty and have her do something about Lucy."

"She'd never believe me, Sally," said Charlie Brown. "She's as thick-headed as I'm wishy-washy."

"You're right," Sally pondered. "What we need is the footage of that game. Or, Snoopy! He was the official. He should have seen something!" And Sally ran outside to Snoopy's doghouse where he was laying on top. Woodstock was on his stomach, laying down as well.

"Hey, Snoopy," she began. "Wake up! It's important. You were the official at the game. Did you see Lucy pull the ball away from your owner?"

Snoopy gulped with nervousness and shook his head no. Woodstock glared at the beagle with trepidation. "Are you sure, Snoopy?"

What Snoopy didn't tell anyone was that he was threatened by Lucy to look the other way when she pulled the ball away from Charlie Brown, otherwise there would have been payback by her hand-delivering him to the cat next door, only after she was done with him.

"You were the official," Sally scolded. "You should have paid better attention to the game. But you always seem to goof off, even when it's important." And she went back into the house. Woodstock angrily chirped at Snoopy.

"What was I supposed to do?" he said to Woodstock in his thoughts. "That crazy girl was going to hand me to that stupid cat! And we both know how crazy HE is!" They heard the cat snicker over the fence.

"I WON'T GIVE YOU THE SATIFACTION, YOU STUPID CAT!" Snoopy yelled to the cat.

**NEXT CHAPTER: VIOLET'S CONFESSION**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3: MAKING PEACE WITH MYSELF**

"Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been two months since my last confession." Violet was at a Catholic church in confessional. The priest was ready to hear Violet's confession.

"What would you want to confess, my child?" the priest asked.

"There was this football game," Violet began, "and many of my friends were playing, and even some of my 'non-friends'. One was this boy I hold in total contempt. Usually I wouldn't think anything of this boy, but even I have my limits. He was the unwilling victim of sabotage; not from me, but from a mutual acquaintance. This person always pulls this prank on him by pretending to hold a football while he came running up to kick it. But at the last second, she would pull it away from him, causing him to land on his back. Well at said football game, they were on the same team, and she was the placeholder and he was the kicker. I'm sure you know where I'm going with this. Anyway, she kept pulling it away from the poor boy, causing their team to lose points. Though he did mess up a field goal on his own at one point and got sacked, but the other times she purposely pulled the ball away for nothing more to humiliate him. And he got blamed for losing the game by one point. Any other time I wouldn't think twice about giving this kid the cold shoulder, but as I said, even I have my limits.

"Now what does this have to do with me? Well I was kind of in on this girl's plot. Mind you I didn't participate in her ploy what so ever, but I knew about it beforehand. And I could have stopped this girl had I told someone, ANYONE, what she was up to. But because of my own need to hate this boy, myself, I held back."

"Why do you hate this boy so much, child?" asked the priest.

"Why?" Violet asked. "Because he's weak and stupid. And he's a big push-over. Which is why he always falls victim to this girl and her own teasing of him and the football gag. If he had something resembling a backbone, I'd probably respect him more. But because of my own hang-ups about the boy, I hesitated to tell an authority figure. I know it's wrong to think about someone like that, but I can't help it. And now he's unfairly being blamed for something I know isn't entirely his fault, or even his fault at all. Like I said, any other time I wouldn't think twice about being mean to this boy, but I do have my limits."

"Well, child, you should look into yourself and ask, 'Why am I so mean to this boy? He's also one of God's children; he hasn't done anything wrong to anyone. So why do I truly hate him so much that I wouldn't save him from humiliation?' Look into yourself, my child."

"Thank you, Father." And Violet left. While she wouldn't change her opinion of Charlie Brown overnight, she was relieved to get her thoughts off her shoulders and move on.

At that time, Heather, in her disguise, was walking with a tape in her hand. On it read "Charlie Brown's Redemption". She was heading to Marcie's house, as she heard about Marcie trying to convince Peppermint Patty about Lucy's true intentions, to no avail, and that she was looking for proof to her accusations and what everyone else also knew.

She knock on Marcie's door. Marcie answered it. "Do I know you?" she asked.

"Yes," Heather said. She pulled up her disguise to reveal her identity to Marcie.

"Good grief, it's you," Marcie said realizing who it was.

"I have something for you to view," said Heather. "This will clear Charlie Brown's name as the one who lost the Homecoming game last week. It reveals that Lucy Van Pelt was the one who cost the team the game by pulling the football away from Charlie. I know Peppermint Patty doesn't want to accept that she made a mistake blaming Charlie Brown, but this will make her face the facts. I'm counting on you, Marcie. I will be in touch. I got more footage before the game happened that proves that the ball trick was just the tip of the iceberg." And they left. Marcie went inside and popped the video in. She watched closely and saw Lucy pulling the ball away from Charlie Brown.

"I got to tell Peppermint Patty," Marcie said to herself. "She's going to have to listen to me now!" And she left for Patty's house, carrying the video with her.

**NEXT CHAPTER: FACTS IS FACTS**


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4: OPEN YOUR EYES, PEPPERMINT PATTY!**

"No, Marcie!" Peppermint Patty said. "Chuck lost us the game! End of story!"

"But I got the proof he wasn't at fault, sir," Marcie protested. "This is the video of the game that was broadcasted that day. Everyone who was watching at home said the same thing I've been saying. Charles wasn't at fault. Lucille obviously pulled the ball away, as she always does. Will you at least watch the tape, sir?"

"All right, Marcie," said an exasperated Patty. "If it'll put this whole thing to rest, I'll watch it."

Marcie proceeded to put the tape in and pressed play. The footage began and it immediately goes to the part where they were behind one point and needed a field goal to win.

"_The little red-haired girl is watching_," Charlie Brown said in the video. "_This is my last chance to really impress her!_" The ball is tossed to Lucy and when Charlie Brown comes running up to kick it, she smirked and pulled it away at the last moment.

"_AAUGH!_"

And Charlie Brown lands on the line of scrimmage, with Peppermint Patty at the bottom. Marcie stops the video at that point.

"You see?" said Marcie pointing at the screen. "Charles did not mess up that kick like you said he did. Lucille pulled the ball away from him. She wasn't interested in winning the game as she was interested in humiliating Charles, which she did succeed at."

"Oh good grief!" moaned Patty, now realizing the repercussions of her own actions blaming Charlie Brown. "You were right, Marcie. Chuck wasn't at fault! Why didn't I see this to begin with?"

"You were busy in the line of scrimmage, sir. You couldn't pay attention to everything, and everyone understands that. But even when everyone came to you who did see what happened to Charles, you still didn't believe them."

"No wonder Chuck wouldn't want to be with a girl like me! Not only do I have freckles and a big nose, but I blame Chuck for something that wasn't his fault. And it's not the first time I've done that, either. I need to make it up to him, Marcie."

"One thing you could do is apologize to him, sir."

"I think I'll do just that." And Peppermint Patty left her house to go see Charlie Brown to apologize for how she treated him over the game. And maybe chastise Lucy for letting him take the blame for something that was her fault. "I just wonder where the footage came from." Woodstock watched from a distance and chuckled a bit to himself.

Peppermint Patty slowly made her way to the Brown's house. She rang the doorbell and Sally answered it.

"Oh, hi, Peppermint Patty," she greeted. "Are you looking for my brother?"

"As a matter of fact, Sally, I am," Patty stated. "Is he home?"

"Nope," said Sally. "He went to Ace's Ice Cream Shop with Linus and Schroeder."

"Okay," said Patty, sadly. "I'll meet him there." And she headed for Ace's.

At Ace's, Charlie Brown was enjoying a sundae. Linus and Schroeder also had some. They were discussing the revelation that Lucy pulled the ball away from Charlie Brown during the game.

"Why could I not have seen that?" said Linus. "I blamed Charlie Brown myself for losing, though I wasn't harsh about it like everyone else. And this is Lucy we're talking about. My sister who is KNOWN for doing that. And yet, Charlie Brown took the fall."

"How come you didn't say anything about it, Charlie Brown?" asked Schroeder.

"I guess since I always seem to mess up," Charlie Brown began, "I even believed that I lost us the game. Even knowing that Lucy always pulls this trick on me, I guess I thought that maybe somehow it was my fault."

"What makes my head reel is the fact that even when everyone in the world now has knowledge of Lucy pulling it away, Peppermint Patty STILL refuses to see it and STILL blames you for losing the game," said a frustrated Schroeder.

"Well, speak of the devil," said Linus. Peppermint Patty walked in and spotted the three boys.

"Chuck!" she began. "I need to talk to you in private."

"You got a lot of nerve, Patty," said Schroeder, getting angry at her. "You blindly blame Charlie Brown for something that wasn't his fault; even when everyone else who saw what happened came to you and stated as such you STILL didn't believe it!"

"You're right, Schroeder," said Patty, who was on the verge of tears. "I'm as much to blame as Lucille. But I'm here to fix what I helped mess up."

"It's okay, guys," assured Charlie Brown. "Let me hear her out and then you can pass judgement."

"Okay, Charlie Brown," agreed Linus. "We'll leave you two to discuss this." And Linus and a reluctant Schroeder left them to talk.

"Chuck," Patty continued, "words cannot describe how sorry I am for blaming you for losing the Homecoming game. I finally saw footage that proved everyone was right about Lucille pulling the ball away from you. Why didn't you say anything to me about it?"

"Would you had believed me if I had told you Lucy pulled it away?" asked Charlie Brown.

Patty thought about that for a minute, then said, "I see your point, Chuck. Anyway, I want to say I'm sorry for blaming you for losing the game. I should have never been so mean to you that day after the game, either. And I should have heard those people who saw what happened out. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Sure, Patty," said Charlie Brown. "I've dealt with worse than that. All I want to know is what are you going to do about Lucy?"

"After I leave here, I'm going to have a talk with her and find out why she did that to you."

"I guess that's good."

"I guarantee that you having the ball pulled from you during a game will never happen again, Chuck."

"Well, about that, Patty…" And Linus and Schroeder listened in as much as they could. From what they saw, after Charlie Brown spoke, Peppermint Patty hung her head down, and then left.

"I hope he told her where she could go!" said Schroeder.

"I don't think Charlie Brown would say something like that," Linus replied. After she left, the two boys rejoined their friend at the table.

"So what did you say to her, Charlie Brown?" asked an anxious Schroeder.

"First, I told her that I did forgive her," Charlie Brown replied. "And just before she left, I told her that after this, I was done playing on her team. I told her I didn't want to be humiliated in that fashion ever again, by Lucy or anyone else. And that I rather have Lucy pull the ball away from me when it's just us instead of it being on national TV and in front of thousands of spectators. Not to mention that the Little Red-Haired Girl was watching the whole time. I still don't have any memory of the dance, though." And the boys sat for a while and talked about other things before leaving.

**NEXT CHAPTER: CONFRONTING LUCY**


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5: LUCY CONFESSES… …SORT OF**

After leaving Ace's, Peppermint Patty tried to go to the Van Pelt's house, but Rerun told her Lucy was out somewhere with Violet and Patty, so she wouldn't be back for a while. So she decided to head back home. She still felt guilty about blaming Charlie Brown for losing the game, even though he wasn't at fault. But when folks, including Marcie, came to her and straight up told her that Lucy did pull the ball away from Charlie Brown, she STILL didn't believe them, until Marcie produced the tape Heather had given her. Even then, she was reluctant to see it, but relented. Now she knew everyone else was telling the truth. She decided to see Lucy next afternoon.

The next day, Peppermint Patty walked up to the Van Pelt's house. She rang the doorbell. Linus answered it. "Peppermint Patty. How are you?"

"Not good, Linus," she said. "Is your sister home? I need to talk to her."

"Hold on, I'll get her." Linus walked in. Patty waited patiently. Finally Lucy showed up at the door.

"Patty, what are you doing here?" Lucy wondered.

"Lucille," Patty began, "I need to talk to you about the Homecoming game."

"I know, right?" Lucy said. "Can you believe that blockhead Charlie Brown lost the game? Actually I can believe it because he's Charlie Brown!" She giggled about the comment.

"Well, it was brought to my attention that you pulled the ball away from him during the game," Peppermint Patty said, sternly. "And I saw some footage that supports that accusation."

"Who gave you that footage?!" Lucy asked.

"That's not important, Lucille," Patty said. "What's important is that you promised that you wouldn't do that to Chuck. All I want to know is was there an ulterior motive to you volunteering him to be a place kicker?"

"NO!" Lucy shouted, becoming defensive. "I'm just so used to pulling the ball away from him! It's a force of habit, Patricia! I swear, there was no ulterior motive on my part!"

"Just a force of habit?" asked a suspicious Patty.

"Scouts honor!" Lucy said, holding her right hand up, but crossed her left hand fingers behind her back.

Peppermint Patty had her doubts, but decided not to push the subject any further, at least for that moment. "Okay, Lucille. I'll take your word for it. But I did apologize to Chuck for how I treated him after the game. I suggest you do the same. I will forgive you for this, but I hope you're not lying to me."

"I'm not, Patty. I'm not!"

"Okay. That's all I needed to hear. I'll see you later, Lucille."

"See ya, Patty." As soon as Peppermint Patty was out of sight, Lucy laughed to herself and muttered under her breath, "Stupid idiot!"

Elsewhere, Frieda walked up to Charlie Brown's house. She rang the doorbell, and Charlie Brown answered it. "Frieda!" he said, surprised to see her there. "How are you?"

"Not good, Charlie Brown," she said, sadly. "I wanted to apologize about how I treated you during the dance. It was wrong of me to be so cruel to you when you weren't at fault for losing the game. I hope you can forgive me."

"Sure, Frieda," said Charlie Brown. "I forgive you. Although my memory of that night is still foggy, at best."

"Anyway, I won't hold you up or anything," said Frieda. "We're still friends, aren't we?"

"Absolutely, Frieda," said Charlie Brown, with a smile. "As I told Peppermint Patty, I've dealt with worse than this."

"I do know that, Charlie Brown," Frieda replied. "Anyway, I'll see you later. Okay?"

"Sure, have a nice day, Frieda."

And as Frieda was walking away from the Brown home, she turned around and looked back. "I truly love you, Charlie Brown. One day I hope we can be together."

**THE END**

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **__I borrowed some elements from not only "Episode 3: Homecoming Redemption", but I also borrowed from "The Cutting Room Floor" and "Episode 6: Descent Into Darkness-Bad Girl Gone Worse". So if any of the dialogue looked familiar, that's why._


End file.
